Both dwarves grasped at the other.

"I was going for a round out today, love-"

"-I asked you for groceries yesterday, anyways"

They kept one another shortly, still, then parted.

"Call me when you feel like I should catch up to you." she continued

"Will do."

Durn finished his morning meal on the couch with his wife, then went back to their bedroom while she beheld the news on the parlor's screen, mounted in the wall. He stopped at the wardrobe and chose from it a suit of clothes for himself for the streets, stored in pockets his key and identification cards, then came back into the parlor, smooched her as a bye. He came out in the tidy aisles of the city, more vacant this time of the day, and ambled to the state market nearest home - There he got the regular customs of the family, with an additional canned drink for himself, and went through the sliding doors laden with bags. At this point in the day the delivery robots stationed by the building were all idle and, just on this event, he discharged on one unit, swiped his identification on its slit, inserted his addressed and it started off at a scud.

The can he left in a pocket, then began his stroll on other lanes. The windows grew in brightness with the advance of the day, though the ordinary dwarf tended to laze in their house much after they got up, to freshen up and finish their animating routine.

Once he bored of the quarter he went to a court with a view from the mountain face - He was not long in arriving there and tossing himself over a metal bench, catching the prospect of the planet's rough, rolling surface, shone upon by the dawning sun, as it was seen from the tall, wide panes admitting in the increasing light.

He had dallied enough for others to begin coming when he stopped there. All bustled in their daily courses, and he looked on lounging upon the back rest.

His reaching out for his drink was disturbed by the ringing of his phone. He slid it out his pocket and meant to tap to receive the call; The sound ceased before he finished and a short jingle notified him of receiving a message - He accessed his call history.

From an unidentified sender came the text "Brood cries for mother mole."

Receiving the meaning of it, his chest heaved little, then he took off from the area back in the city. His path saw the lights flanking the corridors dimming, closing upon a deserted district reserved for future tenancy. There was faint commotion in this area still. The end of one passage was clearly lit, at its end he reached the front of an office, typical in appearance, with a plain couple of doors surcharged with the imperial amrs. He gave the door an irregular rap and was granted entry to an ordinary interior to such a building, screens inserted in the walls, and personnel pacing and idling around their care.

He exchanged familiar greetings with the staff and took a thin door on the side into a dark hall.

Out the other end came (a riddle he gave the regular answer to,) and was admitted in a small lobby where he followed a known figure through the space, leaving it into a plain room, with a simple desk centered inside. The lights flashed on over the features of Durn's Chief at their entry's detection; She seated herself first opposite of him, and began:

"Incidents surrounding the site of a frontier settlement were reported to civil authorities, which they indirectly referred to us. We've already dispatched an agent of low degree to investigate and he has solicited additional assistance, including physical and armed aid, and I thought it suited you. You accept - Do you?"

"'ve not had a case I've passed up yet - Debrief me"

Chief stood from her chair and motioned for Durn to return for the main room, from where Chief asked one of the others present to attend them through another door. It slid open that they could gather before one of the wall screens, these connected to blocks - Durn always supposed them to contain circuitry - fixed into the floor and regularly spaced. The screen lit up, an employee entered a combination and brought up an interface, the control of it was assumed by Chief and she opened a familiar satellite mapof the planet, beginning to magnify a zone stretching north of them.

"Because I must remind you, we have analyzed online engine searches after the first dubious reports from here, and were able to trace a map just by the date and situation of each query. You may see how a path was traced from the first potential sighting to the small city, based in a cave, where we have sent your colleague."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Chief tapped errantly to open up the contents of each search and their position on the track, differing from questions about fauna to strange vehicle faults, all along a paved way for goods shipments, Durn inclined for a better view of the pointers expanding and collapsing on the map. She took the cursor and let it over the most extremely placed marker shown.

"This came to a head with the disappearace of a colonist and the alarms setting off in the mayor's residence. Your ride to the nearest spot where another vehicle can bring you from is due at later this noon. Instructions on where to get off, what to take from there from who and contingency directives will be messaged to you through your phone. Any questions?"

"What's the agent there having trouble with?"

"Says there's infrequent visits from the suspect, but that he can't locate its lair or neutralize it alone."

"I see."

All in the room swapped formalities and dispersed; Durn left the building warily for any presences as he had been first ever enjoined by the agency.

He hurried home over other ways and opened the doors waving his card through its key reader, inside he crossed his wife just entering the parlor they had earlier been watching the screen in.

He cut her before she had time to speak that "I have been contacted from there for a mission up north."

"Oh, that's why," She resigned herself quickly. "You would need to gear up for that." She edged clear of him charging into the dormitory, lifting one of the lits their mattresses were joined to reach in the chest under and retrieving his folded arm, its rounds and the pieces of his duty suit.

The wife leaned in the door "Wouldn't you like anything, though? Before you go?". Durn's phone buzzed and was raised by him, giving notice that his train was leaving sooner than suggested, little enough for him to catch up at moderate pace. He frowned, but she had already seemed prepared from the call's recepiton that "Rail is leaving shortly.", she then shared in his expression.

"It's fine, we both know how strict they are with these."

They bowed their heads together for a parting kiss and he was off to the train. Having no security that public transit would come in time to take him there, he went on foot through streets lit by mellow lamps and store signs at their fullest yet since he had left the house. He went thus through broader and tighter spaces in the city over trodden places until he came to the distinct entrance of the station. He was surprised it did not require to specify the line he would be charged for once he placed his identification at the entrance, and was admitted in freely, but he didn't wonder much when he felt that it was the agency's doing.

He climbed and crossed the platforms to reach the long, stout train that seemed as described in the directions he had gotten. Entering it, he chose himself a seat by the window, in the several stalls vacant to throw himself in. The foamy stuffings yielded to his mass then wafted him a little upwards, where he laid at rest during the time it took for the train to engage and drift off the rails into silent acceleration. This he intended as his cue to pull up his phone and reach out -

To his wife, that "I got there in time, no sweat about it."

"Glad 4 you"* after a brief delay."

"We're having a huge artisanal meal when I get back to make up for all of this."

"I don't doubt you're not the one in the way of us doing anything."

He faltered to give any response before she seconded her text

"u 4got ur drink"

Then he was convinced that it wanted for none.

He switched the interface to the unknown number the morning's code came from and verified his presence on the train on it - From his experience the agency always received any text to these numbers. His was replied with more details concerning the situation of the vehicle and agent waiting on him. The remainder of the ride he rested in rest and gazing the figures of buildings and reliefs coming in and passing from view. The train slowed gently to bring its doors level with the stripes about the platform's edge. Durn disboarded, reviewed the path he had to take to the given address through satellite positioning provided readily online not far off from the departing train, then made off again through an exposed part of the city, covering the face of a slope in the terrain. He met the agent appointed for him there, furtively folded up to the higher face in formal wear, which only produced the contrary effect.

Though he even seemed to act conscious of himself, he began a terse, awkward dialogue about the truck stationed on the road, around the corner, behind their conversation, including that it had been already directed to make for Durn's destination when he is to take the seat. The agent wished him best and Durn gladly returned the gratitude, while the other was shambling off.

He embarked the driver's seat and stared at the dashboard dazzledly, fumbled with it and pressed the right, most conspicuous that started the truck off; And away he went.